Door-to-door sales can promote home maintenance services, such as pest control, home or garden maintenance, and even utilities like electricity and telephone services. Many legitimate business sell things by going door-to-door, however some scammers also use this approach.
Door-to-door sales are normally uninvited. Sometimes the salesperson just turns up at your door, sometimes they will be in your home because you booked an appointment with their sales organisation after receiving their ad in your letterbox.
In either case, salespeople are not visitors in your home - they are there to get you to hand over your money to them. By law they must leave when you tell them.
Even in the case of genuine businesses and products, unscrupulous operators can still act illegally to the detriment of other people. States and territories have specific laws about door-to-door sales, including ‘cooling-off’ periods that apply in many cases (where you can change your mind and request your money back).
Door-to-door scams involve promoting goods or services that are not delivered or are of a very poor quality. Scammers can also bill you for work that you did not agree to. The scammers often claim they will provide home maintenance like roofing or gardening services. Sometimes scammers pretend to conduct a survey so they can get your personal details or to disguise their sales pitch until they have been talking to you for a while.
Door-to-door scammers will not give you value for your money. Their money-back guarantees will turn out to be useless. You stand to lose your money. At worst, a door-knocker's real purpose could be to prepare for a subsequent break-in into your home.
The person might arrive very late at night or visit you again after you have said no.
The person does not show you any personal identification or give you any written quotes, contract information or receipts
The person might demand that you decide to accept their offer on the spot.
Scammers will ask you for either a deposit or full payment and want you to pay in cash or by credit card.
The person will not want to receive a cheque (because you may be able to cancel a cheque later if things go wrong).
The person will fail to tell you about your legal rights, including any cooling-off period that applies in some states of Australia (be aware that a cooling-off period does not apply in NSW or Victoria if you pay by cash or cheque)
Protect yourself from door-to-door & home maintenance scams
Use your common sense: the offer may be a scam.
If someone comes to your door, ask to see their identification. You do not have to let them in, and they must leave if you ask them to.
Do not agree to offers or deals straight away: tell the person that you are not interested or that you want to get some independent advice before making a decision.
ALWAYS get independent advice if an offer involves significant money, time or commitment.
Read all the terms and conditions of any offer very carefully: claims of free or very cheap offers often have hidden costs.
Always check that goods or services were both ordered and delivered before paying an invoice.
If you are interested in what a door-to-door salesperson has to offer, take the time to find out about their business, their offer. Don’t forget to shop around to see if you could get a better deal somewhere else.
Contact your local fair trading agency to see if they have issued any warnings about the trader. If the person is selling home maintenance services, ask them for the contact details of other clients so you can check to see if they were happy with the service that was provided. If the person’s business is legitimate and they offer a good quality service, they will be happy to do this.
Find out the full price, terms and conditions of the offer. Scammers may offer you a great deal and then not deliver. Make sure you know what, if any, cooling-off period you may have. Your local fair trading agency can help you with this.
If you are not interested in what is on offer, just say no. Throw away the advertisement or ask the person to leave.
If you are interested, make sure you have done your homework before making a decision. Make sure that the trader is legitimate and is offering a quality product or service. If you know all the important terms and conditions, as well as your legal rights, you can decide to go ahead.
If you have any concerns about the trader’s identity, or the quality of what they are offering, say no. It is not worth the risk.
If you have seen a home maintenance scam, you should contact your local fair trading agency or report a scam to them through SCAMwatch. You should also warn your neighbours, friends and family about the scammer.
Psychic scammers claim that you are in danger or predict trouble and offer a solution, such as ‘winning’ lottery numbers or a lucky charm – for a hefty fee.